i remember reading somewhere that the first screenings of this film were so violent that people left the theatre. lynch had said something along the lines of he had meant to go overboard with the violence but realized that people didn't understand this. i was curious about some of the parts that i had read about:

- a graphic motorcycle accident at the start- two dogs fighting- a bunch of kids killing wasps

does anyone know why lynch chose the american version (the only country that the bobby peru 'exit' scene was censored) for the official dvd release?

i also found this on imdb:the original australian theatrical release of "wild at heart" started with a short scene in which nicholas cage is seen having sex with laura dern's mother in a toilet cubicle. This scene has been excised from the region 4 DVD release and instead the film starts with an unsubstantiated accusation of this, just before the fight.

marchug wrote:i also found this on imdb:the original australian theatrical release of "wild at heart" started with a short scene in which nicholas cage is seen having sex with laura dern's mother in a toilet cubicle. This scene has been excised from the region 4 DVD release and instead the film starts with an unsubstantiated accusation of this, just before the fight.

anyone know about this?

I did not see Wild At Heart at the cinemas, however I do have the original Australian VHS and that scene is definitely not present.
I think someone on IMDb has posted false information...

marchug wrote:i also found this on imdb:the original australian theatrical release of "wild at heart" started with a short scene in which nicholas cage is seen having sex with laura dern's mother in a toilet cubicle. This scene has been excised from the region 4 DVD release and instead the film starts with an unsubstantiated accusation of this, just before the fight.

anyone know about this?

i would love to have seen some of these deleted scenes...

I saw this multiple times in the cinema in Australia, and I can see this scene in my head. Maybe its just suggestive visualisation and I am imagining it, or it was there...

Wow. This is actually very exciting. So much in fact that I went back to my book, the Complete Lynch by David Hughes and pulled this information on the cut scenes:

CUT SCENES: Lynch's screenplay includes a number of scenes, many lifted wholesale from the novel, which do not appear in the finished film:

"¢ The film opens with three short scenes of Lynch's own invention: a speeding motorcycle hits a speed bump and violently disgorges its rider; an old couple remark upon two rabid dogs fighting ferociously in a vacant lot; a group of 'hardened criminal nine-year-olds' attack a wasps' nest while making animal noises. Lynch did not shoot these scenes, and does not remember why, but their omission led to the suggestion, by editor Duwayne Dunham, that the killing of Bob Ray Lemon be moved to the front to provide a dramatic opening.

"¢ As in the novel, Lula and her friend Beany Thorn (played by Belina Logan) discuss their men in a music bar while listening to a white blues band called The Bleach Boys. Lula arranges to borrow Beany's car to evade pursuit.

"¢ After finding Lula missing, Marietta looks for Johnnie at the Southern Time bar.

"¢ Lula's description of being raped by Uncle Pooch is more detailed, like the novel.

"¢ When Marietta asks Marcello Santos to kill Sailor, the scene is longer, and contains a great deal of absurdist humour.

"¢ In the restroom where Marietta tries to seduce Sailor, an old man (Zachery Berger) mistakes her for a man and mutters, 'Lousy fuckin' homosexuals ... '

"¢ In The Hurricane bar, Lula says 'Take a picture, bitch - it'll last longer!' to a girl eyeing up Sailor, before threatening her. "¢ During Sailor's story about leeches and skin grafts, Lynch included a shot of a man with his forearm sewn to his nose.

"¢ The backstory of Johnnie's killers, named in the script as Reginald San Pedro Sula ('Reggie') and Drop Shadow ('Dropshadow'), is expanded in several scenes taken from the book, including one in which they join Johnnie at his table in the Round Room restaurant in New Orleans, claiming to work for the Honduras secret service.

"¢ The scene in which George Kovich (The Elephant Man's Freddie Jones) talks of pigeons and makes strange noises was originally scripted and shot much as it appeared in the novel, with Kovich's brother Earl (Bob Terhune) also making an appearance. In the longer version, Kovich tells Sailor and Lula of his former business venture, in which he and his brother acted as self-styled pest controllers, shooting pigeons that had become a nuisance or a health hazard. According to Lynch, Jones delivered the monologue so perfectly, he was forced to wear a handkerchief across his mouth to stop himself from laughing - and even if he did, either Jones, Cage or Dern would crack up instead. Even with the scene in the can, Lynch realised during editing that the monologue ran too long, and after experimenting with numerous ways to cut it down, finally realised that it had to be cut out. 'But one time Duwayne [Dunham] was running the scene on the Kem and he was going fast-forward, and I heard Freddie's voice speeded up,' Lynch told Chris Rodley. 'And I almost passed out! I said, "I'm gonna do that!'" Lynch called Jones in London, told him that most of the scene had been cut, but that he wanted to leave a little of it in, and change the pitch of his voice to a helium-fuelled squeak (d. Lynch's original idea for Frank's voice in Blue Velvet). Much to Lynch's delight, Jones agreed to the change.

"¢ As Lula tells Sailor she imagines being ripped apart by a gorilla, her hand opens and spreads wide in a gesture already established as orgasmic.

"¢ As in the novel, Sailor and Lula pick up a filthy hitch-hiker named Marvin 'Roach' DeLoach, who is on his way to Alaska with some husky pups. Lula ejects him from the car when he tries to feed them with a piece of raw cow's liver. These scenes were filmed, with Tracey Walter (The Cowboy and the Frenchman) in the role of Roach.

"¢ As in the novel, Sailor and Lula ask directions to a music bar from two boys, Buck and Billy (Scott Coffey), at a Red Devil gas station. They direct them to the Club Zanzibar (where Albert Popwell played the barkeeper), where Lula calls her mother and comes back to find Sailor dancing with a bleached-blonde woman (Michele Seipp). She throws a bottle at Sailor, which hits him, and scolds him for dancing with 'some oil-town tramp'.

"¢ At Galatoire's, Johnnie remarks to Marietta that he keeps seeing Reggie and Drop Shadow. Lynch used this scene to compound the threat to Johnnie's life from the two men.

"¢ The scene in which Johnnie is tortured and killed was originally much longer, as Juana, Reggie and Drop Shadow playa strange psychotic game in which she touches empty soda bottles, starts to masturbate, and shows him Santos's cufflink before Drop Shadow kills him. Lynch trimmed the scene following a mass walkout at an early test screening. As Lynch told Rolling Stone, 'It really taught me something: an audience can really be with you, but if you rub it in their face too much - which I didn't think I was doing - they say, "That's enough!" and out they go. And you can't blame them. I thought it was more powerful that way, but it reached a point where it was too much.' Lynch initially took the scene out entirely, but felt that it removed the life-or-death threat hanging over the rest of the film; instead, he truncated it. Ironically, the portion of the scene which remains in the film contains the most violence: those of the test audience remaining in their seats would have realised that the scene's denouement is no more or less disturbing than the build-up to it. Had the audience stayed, they would have realised that their own imaginings about where the scene were headed were probably more unpleasant than Lynch's .

"¢ After Sailor tells Lula he was outside her house the night her father died, Lula admits to knowing that Marietta was with Santos that night and to suspecting that her mother was responsible for her father's death .

"¢ Lula, alone at the Iguana Motel, listens to a piece of sad, nostalgic music as she remembers her good times with Sailor. The montage ends with an image she does not recognise: 'an abstract image of reflected light with two eyes looking through it at her'. As the script shows later, it is a premonition of an image of her son's eyes.

I know there are much more like the scene where Lula says to Sailor "Take a bite of Lula" and a few extended scenes with Dell as well. Like the scenes where Dell appears in the film working at a gas station from what I remember. The most exciting thing for me is any scenes that may not have been scripted. I seem to recall a game show scene as well from the script. I'll have to go back and check it out.

JingleDale wrote:I personally hope to see more of:There was supposedly a scene of Bobby Peru raping Perdita Durango that was added to the laserdisc. Can anyone confirm this?

Nope. This nor any deleted or extended scene was ever released from Wild at Heart. Currently the only Deleted Scenes from Lynch's works that have seen the light of day are INLAND EMPIRE, Twin Peaks Season 1, and Dune.

What is interesting is I don't think I've ever seen any stills from any WAH Deleted Scenes.

As soon as i heard I was like BONER. I mean wild at heart isn't my favorite lynch flick I'd rather watch the Blue Velvet Deleted Scenes, but you know any deleted scenes are better then none when it comes Lynch.